Sister Samantha Haacke: Amen!

Family and Friends,

I loved the family letter this week! It made me laugh! And the picture of Marissa and her friend is priceless. haha :) I am so excited for Tyler to be leaving on his mission this week! That is crazy! So excited for him!

I don't really know where to begin today. We had another great week this week--filled with adventures and miracles.

This last Wednesday, we were out in one of our farthest areas knocking doors and we got a call from the Elders who asked us if we could come to the church and help them with their lesson because their member present didn't show up and they were teaching a female. It was her first lesson with missionaries. We went, and during the lesson found out that she lives in our area! She is a friend of a member, Cai JieMei, who got baptized about a year ago. During our first lesson on Wednesday, Liao JieMei expressed how she came to believe in Jesus Christ and how she has a huge desire to get baptized! For about a year she has been struggling. In her heart, she has believed in Budda and Heavenly Father and she has been trying so hard to get rid of her belief in Budda and last week, that belief finally left her heart and she came to church with Cai JieMei to start learning more about the church. She is very sincere and already has a huge testimony. At the end of our "get to know you" and how to begin teaching from preach my gospel, Sister Cardon asked her more about baptism and her desire. Liao JieMei responded how she wants to be baptized. The Spirit came flooding into the room. Sister Cardon (later told me she has no idea why she said this) but said, "Do you have a day you want to be baptized? (because normally we invite for a specific day) and Liao JM responded by saying, "Yes, July 30." As soon as she said that, I had the hugest filling of the Spirit. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences on my mission so far. It was incredible. It took be a minute to calculate in my head..when she said qi yue, I was like wait, right now is qi yue. She wants to be baptized in 15 days!!!!! So, we set a plan. She works two days and is off two days and we will be meeting with her every day she doesn't have work! We are definite she will make her date. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to help her prepare for baptism. When we taught the first lesson on Thursday, she basically knew everything already! She has really done her personal study! When we got to the part about Joseph Smith, she basically told us his entire story and basically quoted the First Vision. It was incredible. Her member friend, Cai JieMei, is also an amazing member. She has been to all of our lessons so far and has some amazing input and incredible stories and experiences. We are eating dinner with Cai JM and Liao JM tonight and sharing more about the gospel. I can't wait! Liao JM was honestly a HUGE miracle we saw this week. Just when your faith is starting to decrease, Heavenly Father provides a miracle, in this case a HUGE miracle, to strengthen your faith and help you keep going.

Our family, Zhang DiXiong and Jiang JieMei continue to progress. We taught them Word of Wisdom this week and the hardest part for them is coffee. They have a cup every morning and they believe if they quit, they will fall asleep at work. We invited them try promising them it will be hard at first but Heavenly Father will give them the extra strength and energy when they rely on Him. Zhang DiXiong came to church again on Sunday and he brought his 2 year old daughter! She was really good for the first half of sacrament meeting but the last half he took her out and didn't come back till the closing song. :( She'll hopefully adjust to it. :) But, she went to nursery and LOVED it. We are not quite sure why Jiang JM is not coming to church with Zhang DX. They have a really good relationship but we will hopefully be able to figure out this week and help her also start coming to church with her family. Their testimonies continue to grow and I feel like as soon as their faith is a little bit stronger, they will accept a baptismal date.

I have also come to realize this week that people here know Christians as "Amen" haha. This has happened so much recently as we say, we are missionaries and share about Jesus Christ, they say, "Oh, your Amen." haha It's pretty funny :). This last week, we were walking through a neighborhood and we talked to this young boy probably about 9 or 10 and told him about our English class. When he saw our name tags, he said, "Amen." It was SO cute! We explained to him who we are and what we do. The children here in Taiwan are absolutely adorable. I love them with all my heart.

Liang Man Ting, the 14 year-old teenager we have been working with for awhile had a baptismal date for the end of this week. But, yesterday, when we met with her, she informed us her dad told her this week he isn't going to let her get baptized till she is 18 years old. It broke my heart but we invited her to continue to discuss it with him and show him how the church has blessed her life. She just now has to wait 4 years :)

Finding is still a struggle. We talk to many everyday but very small number are willing to talk to us and those aren't interested. We are keeping the faith and knowing when we are continuing in diligence, Heavenly Father will guide us to those who are prepared and ready to embrace and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary. Each week keeps getting faster and faster. It is crazy. I know without a doubt, this church is true. I love being able to have the opportunity to see the gospel change not only others' lives but also my own.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!! Thanks so much for all the support and prayers!

Love,

Sister Haacke

**SISTER MOE!! Thanks so much for your letter! I am completely out of time to write you back but I thank you! Your letters are amazing to read. I love all your detail--you are an amazing writer! Sure love you and miss you!!!

We went finding out farther away in alot of older, more traditional Taiwanese homes. They were beautiful!